Lancashire usher in a new era by travelling to Northamptonshire in Division One of the LV= County Championship.
Glen Chapple was yesterday announced as the man who will oversee first-team affairs for the Red Rose following the departure of new England Head Coach Peter Moores.
Chapple will hope to be able to call upon Kyle Hogg, who has yet to feature this season, at Wantage Road.
Northamptonshire will again be without David Sales.
The veteran batsman tweaked a calf muscle before the new campaign and continues to occupy Northants’ bloated injury list.
Middlesex will be without all-rounder Gareth Berg for their clash with Yorkshire at Lord’s.
Berg this week underwent keyhole surgery on his shoulder and is expected to be sidelined for at least two weeks.
Yorkshire have been given a big boost by the return of Joe Root from a broken finger suffered during England’s tour of the West Indies.
Root returned to action for the second XI against Lancashire and has now been included in a squad featuring Richard Pyrah, who replaces Moin Ashraf.
Nottinghamshire are again likely to be without Andre Adams and Ajmal Shahzad against Warwickshire at Trent Bridge.
The seam duo are back in training yet tomorrow’s game appears likely to come a little too soon.
Warwickshire, who will again be led by Ian Bell, are targeting their first win of the campaign having lost to Sussex and drawn with Lancashire.
Sussex are looking to continue their flying start against a Somerset side buoyed by batting out the final day versus Durham last time out.
The home side have won their opening two games, cruising to an innings win over Middlesex before beating Warwickshire by seven wickets.
However, they are without Matt Prior, who continues to suffer from an Achilles problem. Chris Nash is still sidelined by a ruptured appendix but Luke Wright is set to make his first appearance of the season.
Somerset, meanwhile, are yet to enjoy victory, but will take hope from Nick Compton’s fine century in a battling display as they head to the BrightonandHoveJobs.com County Ground.
LV= County Championship Facts
- Yorkshire’s win at Lord’s last summer was their first in 10 championship visits to Middlesex (lost four, drawn five).
- Nottinghamshire’s win against Lancashire was their third in the 17 home championship matches they have played since the start of 2012 (lost four, drawn 10).
- The last 10 championship matches between Northamptonshire and Lancashire at Northampton have produced two wins apiece and six draws.
- Sussex have won two and lost two of their last four home championship matches against Somerset.
- Gary Ballance has hit three tons and two half-centuries in his last six championship innings. He averages 120.4 in this time.
- Ed Joyce has hit 1,398 championship runs at an average of 73.6 since the start of 2013. Only Ballance (1,507) and Moeen Ali (1,485) have scored more.